Snow? Whoa! New England braces for even more!

New England snowstorm is third for region in two weeks

February 10, 2015

The third major storm in two weeks blasted a wide swath of beleaguered New England with more than 2 feet of snow Monday, again smashing records and paralyzing travel in hard-hit Boston.

After a record 69 inches of snow in less than a month that has broken records set 37 years ago, New Englanders can’t seem to catch a break.

The snowfall numbers in the area are staggering. Boston’s Logan Airport measured 72 inches of snow in the last two and a half weeks. In the last two days, the town of Norwell, which is outside of Boston, got buried in 30 inches of snow.

After setting a seven-day snow record last week, Boston had 22 inches of fresh snow, and the storm was forecast to last into Tuesday in some areas. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency, clearing the way for him to request snow-removal help from neighboring states. Gov. Baker announced Tuesday that he will deploy 500 National Guardsmen to assist with the clean up efforts.

Massachusetts environmental officials gave cities and towns the green light to dump accumulating snow into open water if necessary.

“I’m frustrated. The last thing I want to be talking about is another 24 inches of snow. I want to move on to something else,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said at City Hall. “We’ve never seen the likes of this here in Boston,” Walsh said. “We’ve gotten whacked pretty good over the last, literally, 13 days.”

The region continues to clean up, but there is no place to move the latest snowfall. The storm forced the Boston transit system to suspend all rail service for the entire day Tuesday to clean tracks and repair equipment.

Boston hospitals have set up sleeping areas for workers and police are offering rides to work for doctors and nurses.

There have been reports of roofs collapsing in the Boston area due to the weight of the snow. Indeed, most schools remain closed, and Pentucket school district north of Boston has closed all schools for the week over concerns about strained roofs.

Even more snow may be on the way. A system forecast to reach the area Thursday could bring 6 more inches, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski told USA TODAY.